The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-04-07
: HOW TO SAVE.

HOW TO SAVE. |
A way by which the Working Man May
Increase HIS Wages by stopping Up
Great Leak.
1t Is u fact-a lamentablc fact-that
the people of this country waste in
rum about two-thirds as much as it
costs them for the necessaries of life.
1t is estimated, by writers upon such
subjects. that the people of the United
States spend each year for bread and
breadstuffs S50O,0OO, 900; for meat for
food, $3OO,OOO,O0O; for cotton and
woolen goods, $3.50, 900, 900; for boots
and shoes, 5000, 900, 600; for sugar and
molasses, $15O.OOO, 900; giving total
of 81, GOO, 100000.
We do not vouch for the accuracy of
these figures, but presume that they
are, in the main. correct. Now, the
| same estimates give the annual drink
bill of this country at 5000, 1000, 900.
There are, it is said, 10000 men en-
gagged in the manufacture and sale of
rum. Estimating the labor of each of
these at only $500 year, it gives to-
tai of $25O,OOO, 900. Add this to the
drink bill given above, and ths esti-
mate foots up the astonishing total
of 81, ,15O, 900, 900. That is 1,15O mill
ions for rum, 1000 millions for bread,
meat. clothing, shoes, sugar and mo-
lasses-two-thirds as much for rum as
for these necessaries oflife!
Now. the money spent for rum is as
utterly lost to the men who buy it, as
if it were sunk in the sea. 1t is not
food, it is not clothing, it is not shelter
nor fuel. 1t not only is no benetit-it
is decided deteriment t. the men who
buy it. And who are they who buy it?
Look around you and see. Count up
the drinking men, 0 fellow-worker in
your shop. or store, or factory, or mill,
and compare their number with the
number of those who do not drink at
all. You can thus answer the question
yourself What would be the result,
let us ask you, thinking working-man.
if there were not rum-hole where one
of your drinking fellow-workmen could
spend his money! Think it over care
fully, and answer candidly to yourself
the question. Suppose that there was not
a saloon in the land, not one place where
liquor could be obtained as beverage;
What would then be done with the
money now spent for rum-which, as
we have shown above, is two-thirds OF
the entire sum spent for the necessaries
of life?
Does any one doubt that the .money
would be spent for better food, better
clothing, for the drinker and his fam
, lily? That countless homes would be
! more comfortable, the wives and chill
dren happier and in every way better!
Let us take an example. right here ii
Toledo. We have now, in round mum
bers, 800 saloons. We do not know
} what their average sales are, but let IL!
put it at figure certainly low enough
and say they average five dollars day
each-and that is below the rea
: average. That gives us $4,000 for ont
7 day. In ycar-for they are open as
S rule seven days a week-there is spen
Y 5000, 600 in round numbers over thei
i counters. Suppose this sum, in plac
t of being spent for liquor, were invested
\ in new houses which, with the lots
Y should cost $1,000 each. 1t would adj
e 600 such houses each year. to the city
s What would be the effect of such
n boom in building as the erection of GO
y new houses in one yearP Would not tn
n lumber men. and the stone men, an
I the carpenters and builders, the ston
: and brick masons, the plasterers
r painters. roofers, the cellar-diggers, tn
:. plumbers and paper-hangers, all hav
g their hands full of work? There woul
e be no line of business in the city bu
II would feel the influence of such boon
It The abolition of this payment G
l. such an enormous tax upon the peopl
o as that which is paid to rum, would b
d true economy. 1t would mean, pra,
l. tically. the addition of two-fifths to tn
d wages of the drinking class; for sue
\ men generally spend all they earn. A
!. average of two-tifths goes for rum, an
It the remaining three fifths for the nece'
is sarics of life. Is there not here an ev
e that needs prompt remedy?-4olec
). Blade.
t, KEG-DRAINERs, individuals who 2
10 about in New York emptying what